Review: Hints of Hope

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Cover image of "Hints of Hope" by Steven Garber

Hints of Hope

Hints of Hope, Steven Garber, foreword by Makoto Fujimura. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9798893480344) 2026.

Summary: How we might live with hope in a beautiful but broken world where even our best efforts realize only proximately our ideals.

As followers of Christ, we speak of our hope in Christ, of new life in a renewed creation. But that seems far away for many of us. In the lives we live now, we struggle with the disparity between the vision toward which we live and the present realities of living in a beautiful but broken world as beautiful but broken people. Whether we look at our marriages, our parenting, our work, our civic engagement, we find much that is good. And yet….

That “and yet” is what Steve Garber calls the proximate. Whatever good we experience in the various arenas of our lives pales before what we know things could be. Often, life is marked with failure and grief as well as joy and achievement. One of the big questions is how we might continue to live with hope and make our peace with the proximate. It is to this that Garber devotes the essays that make up this book. In the Introduction, he likens our lives to the seashells we find along a beach–all beautiful, but broken, all glorious ruins–and all seeking to make sense of our reason for being. Then in the following eight essays, he will reflect further, often coming back to the affections, the love on which our lives turn.

Garber begins with his own story, and that of his father, a plant researcher who focused on growing good, disease resistant cotton. And much good cotton was grown, yet plant diseases persist to this day. The proximate. Then Garber turns to travels through Slovakia, the writing of Vaclav Havel, and Jozef Luptak, who convened a society-wide music festival called Konvergencie. It represented an effort to curate the best of Slovak culture while many remained indifferent. The proximate. Finally, he turns to the Lord of the Rings and the amazing quest of Frodo and Sam, destroying the Ring of Power, witnessing the coronation of Aragorn, and cleansing the Shire. And yet there were wounds that only a journey to the Western lands could heal.

That’s one chapter, weaving several stories around the theme of “glimpses of hope.” Garber’s remaining chapters follow a similar pattern, mixing personal narrative, the stories of others, and reflections from literature around a theme. He weighs the question of telos, the end toward which we live, and how it shapes our praxis. In exploring our quest for meaning, he considers Douglas Copeland and his Life After God. Can we make sense of our lives apart from God?

Then follow several chapters on various aspects of what it is to love. He reflects on how, in Wendell Berry’s words, “it all turns on affection”–our families, our work, our economic life, our communal and political life. It is a question Augustine asks: “What do you love?” Then Garber goes on to consider how Hannah Arendt, Reinhold Niebuhr, Lesslie Newbigin, and Jean Bethke Elshtain answered the question. “Love in the Ruins” connects stories from around the world of those who loved amid the proximate. Finally, “A Long-loved Love” looks at love and the proximate in marriages, including Garber’s own.

The final chapters face both the wounds and scars we bear and our longing for something more. We follow Garber from Birmingham to Pittsburgh to the art studios of Makoto Fujimura, who demonstrates the art of kintsugi. Each story is one of fashioning beauty out of brokenness. Finally, he considers the something more for which we long. He tells an amazing story of the Tunyi family from Nagaland. This is a remote place bordering Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. They are dedicated to cultivating the good for the sake of the kingdom. Their efforts range across education, healthcare, and politics, as signposts pointing to the something more. And to close the circle, Garber ends with Lewis and Tolkien.

Garber writes beautifully, evoking in the reader images, thoughts, and feelings as one reads. There is the ethos of Garber’s own life, and search for hope. Then we have the pathos of so many stories of those living hopefully while making peace with the proximate. Finally, there is also logos, as Garber in the company of great writers, invites us to consider our telos. Toward what end do we live and what do we love?

If I were to offer any critique, it would be that these reflections sometimes border on “stream of consciousness.” There are so many stories that sometimes, keeping track of Garber’s theme can be a challenge. It’s easy to get lost in his excellent prose and skilled storytelling!

So what this calls for is slow and attentive reading…and reflecting. But what that yields is so worth it. In a world that vacillates between unrealistic ideals and ideologies and deep disillusionment, living with hope in the proximate is good news. Garber sees beyond the “glittering images” to our beautiful and broken reality, and helps us live toward something more.

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: A City on Mars

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Cover image of " A City on Mars" by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

A City on Mars

A City on Mars, Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9781984881748) 2023.

Summary: A study of the complexities of human settlements in space, and whether this is as good an idea as some think.

With the recent Artemis mission, human space missions once again captured the public imagination. It put us on notice that there are well-funded entities with ambitions to settle on the Moon, and eventually Mars or elsewhere. Some have spoken of this as an alternative if climate conditions become unbearable on earth or as an “ark” to preserve human and other life if the unthinkable were to happen on earth.

Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, a scientist and a cartoonist respectively, are self-admitted space geeks. But as they have taken a hard look at the complexities of space settlement, they argue very good case for at least going slow if we do this at all. At best, they argue for this being a project of centuries–a wait-and-go-big approach. To begin, they puncture a variety of myths about how space settlement could save humanity, make us all rich, end war, and will unify us and make us wise.

Then they take a deep dive into the complexities of creating sustainable space settlements. Firstly, consider survival. Space has all kinds of ways to kill humans, both fast and slow. Fundamentally, there is the question of air, and the reality that the lack of it, even for seconds can kill. There are also a variety of longer term killers from bone and muscle loss to radiation exposure from which our atmosphere protects us. And while sex in space is possible, we do not know the effects of low or no gravity environments on human development. Likewise, what would long-term residence in a low gravity environment would mean for returning to Earth?

Secondly, comes the question of where. The Weinersmiths consider the possibilities. The Moon is close but comes with challenges. Only a few mountaintops at the poles are always in sunlight. The soil is abrasive, just to mention the most obvious problems. Mars is little better, with toxic, perchlorate soils and challenging atmospheric conditions. Then there are giant space stations, wheels in the sky. However, the size to create gravity approximating earth presents construction challenges. All the other options are far worse.

Thirdly, creating self-contained settlements has its own challenges. Biosphere Two barely pulled this off on earth. But the most likely settlements on the Moon or Mars would be underground, in lava tubes. These protect from unlivable temperatures, toxins, and radiation. But the challenge is that they have to be self-sustaining for long periods, from oxygen generation to food and energy production. We don’t know how to do this yet.

Fourthly, is the state of and challenges of space law. The Weinersmiths discuss the existing Outer Space Treaty, that has both worked but leaves many questions unanswered. When you are talking brief, exploratory missions and a few samples, there are few problems. However, can a “commons” approach work when there are multiple entities with settlements?

Finally, the Weinersmiths consider what is involved in “going big.” They envision that settlements would be the equivalent of the company town. And how many people are needed for a self-sustaining civilization? The estimates vary widely from under ten thousand to a million or more people. Of course, that begs the question of how we will get them there. And, because human nature doesn’t change, the Weinersmiths explore everything from crime to space war.

The Weinersmiths break up all this serious science and technology talk with comics, down to earth descriptions, like the Moon as a “fixer-upper” and humorous sidenotes like the tale of the tampon bandolier for early female astronauts and why astronauts love taco sauce. Don’t skip over the Nota Bene at the end of each section.

The upshot of all this is that we better not rely on space settlement as a Plan B for the human race. At one point, they note that the best space alternatives are still objectively worst than even extreme climate change conditions. And none are near-term. We are far wiser to focus on the only place we know we can live. However, they do not close the door to space settlement. Rather, to do it well and ethically, there is a lot of groundwork to lay that will take far more than 20-25 years as some would propose. The Weinersmiths suggest centuries, although our ADHD society probably can’t tolerate that. And they weigh the words of naysayers and those who worry what Pandora’s box space settlement could open.

What is valuable is that the Weinersmiths inject a healthy dose of realism into discussions given to hyperbole. Their style is such that readers have fun while considering serious matters. And since a space settlement effort will effect all of us, it’s well worth learning about what is involved and the challenges we may face. This book is a good place to start.

The Weekly Wrap: April 26-May 2

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The Weekly Wrap: April 26-May 2

New Bookstores

“Independent Bookstore Day: Bookshop.org founder on how small retailers are taking on Amazon.” This Fast Company notes that since 2020, the number of members in the American Booksellers Association has grown from1,900 to 3,200.

I think there is something to this. Two nearby communities that have never had bookstores in my memory will have three bookstores by this summer. Escape Into Fiction opened in Powell, Ohio last fall. This summer two bookstores open just down the street from each other in downtown Worthington. Celestielle is scheduled to open May 22 and focuses on fantasy and romance. Then in July, The Whispering Page is scheduled to open, stocking new books of all genres and hosting used book swaps. Their Instagram page also advertises a cafe and bar.

Will they survive? That’s anyone’s guess. But it excites me that there are entrepreneurs who see this a good time to make a go of it. Increasingly, there is a conviction that the big online behemoth is not invincible. Bookshop.org has provided an online alternative to that behemoth that supports Indie stores, and, according to the Fast Company article, have already channeled $47 million to Indie stores.

What delights me about these stores they help to turn the town centers of these communities into more interesting places. And they are filling empty storefronts. They hark back to the time when we’d walk downtown rather than pile into a car to go to the mall. There is a movement of people are going analog and craving interaction with real people.

To me, all this seems a good thing.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Sometimes my “five articles” cluster around a theme. This week, they were just a potpourri of things that caught my attention.

Plough is one of my favorite sources of good writing. This week they posted “When Kierkegaard Got Cancelled.” It’s a fascinating study of how Kierkegaard responded to the attacks and cancelling he encountered.

I was disappointed several years when my one chance to see Bob Seger in concert was lost when he had health issues. He was one of my rock legends, representing the gritty rock of middle America. “The Lost Idealism of Heartland Rock” reviews “Won’t Back Down by Erin Osmon, which traces the progressive strain in artists like Seger, Tom Petty, and John Mellencamp.

Both the change from local businesses to big shopping centers and many of our rock songs assumed the ubiquitous presence of the automobile. “Life After Cars?” reviews a book by the same name that explores what a post-automobile landscape might be like.

His novel Lázár, has been on the German best seller lists for 29 weeks. It’s been compared to Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks. And he is 22 years old. “A Very Old-Fashioned Novel Has Made a Star Out of a Very Young Writer” features the life and work of Nelio Biedermann.

Finally, one of the most prolific American diarists of the nineteenth century was George Templeton Strong. For example, he wrote four million words between 1835 and 1875. His diaries capture what life in New York was like during the Civil War. “Inside a Four-Million-Word Diary of 1860s New York” profiles Strong as well as offers resources if you want to read more of him.

Quote of the Week

In recent years I’ve become something of an advocate for poetry, even daring to read some on my Facebook page. Yusef Komunyakaa, who was born on April 29, 1947, captures something of the essence of the work of poets:

“Poets are seen as the caretakers of language, so working with words no matter what the form is what we do.”

You can read more about his life at the Poetry Foundation.

Miscellaneous Musings

After thirteen years, I made a small tweak to the tagline on my web page, which was “Thoughts about books, reading, and life.” It now reads “Thoughts from a human on books, reading, and life.” Because it is increasingly common to get reviews from AI (which I think sometimes uses reviews I write!). I felt it time to affirm that the reviews on this page are 100 percent human written, based on the reading of whole books by a 100 percent human. Whether that’s better than AI, I’ll leave up to you.

I am an Inklings fan. But Leslie Baynes Interpretation and Imagination reveals that Lewis made scholarly mistakes like the rest of us. He trusted his memory too much when citing others and sometimes misread those he was critiquing. It seems that particularly when he engaged biblical criticism, he was prone to errors stemming from his lack of expertise and background in the field.

Reading Louis Markos’ From Aristotle to Christ challenged me that I had never read Aristotle. He recommended a basic edition, which should be arriving in a few days. Just another example of how reading one book leads to others!

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, A City on Mars

Tuesday: Steven Garber, Hints of Hope

Wednesday: Betony Coons, The Unwinding Path

Thursday: Louis Markos, From Aristotle to Christ

Friday: Jane Austen, Emma

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap  for April 26-May 2.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

The Month in Reviews: April 2026

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Cover image of "The Divine Profile" by David J. Claassen

The Month in Reviews: April 2026

Introduction

One of the treats of this month was to read two excellent self-published works, one a memoir and the other a very substantive devotional work. I revisited a couple of the works of Dallas Willard and a book from 2001 on practicing theology. Sometimes, the backlist books are well worthwhile. I opened the month reviewing a book on demons, and a few days later a book on the Holy Spirit and the arts. The “w’s” were well represented with books on welcome, wayfinding, and work. I finally tackled and completed Tom Holland’s Dominion as well as a lengthy commentary on Matthew.

Then there are the mysteries. In this case an Abe Lieberman mystery and the third installment of the Thursday Murder Club. George Saunders Vigil was one of those books I was thing about when I wasn’t reading it. That was also the case with Josiah Hesse’s memoir of growing up in a conservative evangelical/pentecostal environment in a small Midwest town. We both were influenced by the Jesus Movement, but in very different ways. I think the AI/tech revolution is one of the major changes sweeping our society, so I read a book on the high tech firms behind it and how they have sought political and cultural dominance. Finally, it’s baseball season again and I read Frank Deford’s classic The Old Ball Game and how a great pitcher and a great manager changed baseball.

The Reviews

Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance, Harold Ristau. Baker Books (ISBN: 9781540904393) 2025. A biblical and pastoral account of how demons oppress and possess and how ministers may exorcise them. Review

On Fire for God, Josiah Hesse. Pantheon (ISBN: 9780553387292) 2026. A memoir of growing up in a troubled family amidst a toxic mix of conservative Christianity, and escaping it. Review

Matthew (Kerux Commentaries), Darrell L. Bock and Timothy D. Sprankle. Kregel Ministry (ISBN: 9780825458255) 2025. A Kerux Commentary combining exegesis of Matthew with communication insights for teaching and preaching. Review

Naming the Spirit, W. David O. Taylor and Daniel Train, eds. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514013489) 2025. An essay collection considering the different names for the Holy Spirit, using works of art to deepen our understanding. Review

Not Quite Kosher (Abe Lieberman, 7), Stuart M. Kaminsky. Forge Books (ISBN: 9781429912631) 2002. Lieberman juggles two murder cases, one with multiple deaths including a cop, a bar mitzvah, a partner’s wedding and more. Review

Vigil, George Saunders. Random House (ISBN: 9780525509622) 2026. Jill Blaine is a spirit who consoles the dying but her current charge needs no consoling, leading her to reexamine her short life. Review

Stones Still Speak, Amanda Hope Hailey. Revell (ISBN: 9780800746483) 2025. Shows how biblical archaeology helps us understand the context of scripture, sometimes correcting misunderstandings. Review

Knowing Christ Today, Dallas Willard. Harper Collins (ISBN: 9780062311795) 2014 (first published in 2009). Why the knowledge of Christ is real knowledge of true things on which one may base one’s life and confidently speak. Review

The Joy of Solitude, Robert J. Coplan. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668053423) 2025. A study of the complexities of solitude and how it can enrich our lives and relationships. Review

Enabling Grace, Susan Mathew. Langham Global Library (ISBN: 9781839732782) 2025. A disability reading of Paul’s letters focusing on 2 Corinthians 12:7b–10, asserting the grace of God amidst human weakness. Review

The Tech Coup, Marietje Schaake. Princeton University Press (ISBN: 9780691241197) 2025. An expose’ of how tech companies have seized power from government and the danger this poses to the public interest. Review

The Old Ball Game, Frank Deford. Grove Press (ISBN: 9780802142474) 2006. A dual biography of John McGraw and Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants and their partnership in elevating the game. Review

Worth Doing, W. David Buschart and Ryan Tafilowski. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009482) 2025. Addresses unrealistic theologies and ideas of work that do not reckon with our finitude and fallenness. Review

The Divine Profile, David J. Claassen. Self-published (ASIN: B0FKZQ14Y4) 2025. Thirty-one short reflections on the attributes of God, distilling deep theology into a succinct and accessible form. Review

Spiritual Wayfinding, Deborah Gregory. InterVarsity Press | Formatio (ISBN: 9781514011966) 2026. Thirty-three creative, walking meditations integrating mind, body, and spirit to discern God’s direction in our lives. Review

The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club, 3) Richard Osman. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780593299418) 2022. The Thursday Murder Club investigates the murder of a TV journalist while Elizabeth must kill an old spy friend. Review

Dominion, Tom Holland. Basic Books (ISBN: 9781541675599) 2021. A history of Christianity describing its cultural and moral impact over two millenia from its shocking beginnings in a crucifixion. Review

She Teaches Me Still, Andrew T. Le Peau. Fill Us Publishing (ISBN: 9798993671819) 2026. A memoir, by her husband of 47 years, of Phyllis Strong Le Peau, a nurse, campus minister, writer, and church leader. Review

Becoming a Person of Welcome, Laura Baghdassarian Murray, foreword by Tod Bolsinger. IVP | Formatio (ISBN: 781514011942) 2025. Hospitality as embodying a posture that we carry with us rather than just an activity at our “place.” Review

Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard. NavPress (ISBN: 9781641584425) 2021 (cover image and review are of the 2002 edition). How Christ is formed in us as our hearts are transformed and six aspects of human life are integrated under God. Review

Practicing Theology, Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass, editors. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802849311) 2001. Essays answering the question of what theology has to do with real life, how our beliefs translate into practice. Review

Best Book of the Month

It is not often that I can remember choosing a self-published book as best of the month. However, The Divine Profile by David J. Claassen is an exception. He writes on the attributes of God and knowing God, arguably the most important of all knowledge. In thirty-one short reflections he distills thousands of pages of theology into a few readable pages without sacrificing substance or orthodoxy. Written by a pastor of fifty years, this book reflects the “simplicity on the other side of complexity” that comes of knowing and walking with God for decades.

Quote of the Month

Another wonderfully profound and succinct statement about God comes at the end of Becoming a Person of Welcome by Laura Baghdassarian Murray. Murray grounds our hospitality with that of God when she writes:

“We can always find our home in God. And our world needs reminders that we can always come home. God constantly welcomes us home, whether he walks toward us or we walk toward him. May we become people who carry welcome wherever we go and help others find their home in God” (p. 125).

What I’m Reading

Leslie Baynes has a scholarly new book on C.S. Lewis and the Bible titled Between Interpretation and Imagination. While we find Lewis’s imaginative portrayals of biblical truth in his fiction gripping, many will find his views on the Bible weren’t quite what theirs are. Baynes also points out that Lewis’s memory of texts, often celebrated, was not without gaps and he made errors in citing others. Then Louis Markos in From Aristotle to Christ shows the ways Aristotelian ideas helped clarify Christian belief among the church’s foremost early thinkers. However, I need a break from heady discussions. Sabino Chialà’s Silence and Speaking Freely is a series of meditations, from the monastic tradition on the relation of silence and speech.

Then, on the fiction side, I’m currently on my third Jane Austen novel, Emma, on my way to reading the novels of Jane Austen this year. There seems to be quite a bit Emma has to learn about the world of love. In my reckoning, she is also oblivious to her own vanity. Lastly, The Prodigal of Leningrad by Daniel Taylor is a fictional account of the siege of Leningrad, lasting 900 days during the Second World War. We glimpse the conditions through the account of a museum docent from the Hermitage, where Rembrandt’s Prodigal hangs. In addition, the story helps us understand the invidious nature of a totalitarian government that restricts even freedom of conscience.

I’ll leave you with this thought of Annie Dillard, whose birthday was yesterday:

“I worked so hard all my life, and all I want to do now is read.”

If that’s you, I hope you’ve found some good suggestions for future books.

The Month in Reviews is my monthly review summary going back to 2014! It’s a great way to browse what I’ve reviewed. The search box on this blog also works well if you are looking for a review of a particular book. Thanks for stopping by. and feel free to share this with others!

Review: Practicing Theology

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Cover image for "Practicing Theology" edited by Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass

Practicing Theology

Practicing Theology, Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass, editors. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802849311) 2001.

Summary: Essays answering the question of what theology has to do with real life, how our beliefs translate into practice.

“But what does that have to do with real life?”

Miroslav Volf confesses that this is a question he is asked by students in his theology classes. I’d suggest that its also a question people out in “real life” wonder about. For example, consider those listening to sermons on Sunday and wondering what this has to do with Monday through Saturday.

The authors of the essays in this book are theologians who believe that the doctrine they teach do translate into “practices.” They define this as “patterns of cooperative human activity in and through which life together takes shape over time in response to and in the light of God as known in Jesus Christ” (p. 3). They unpack this in four sections.

First, in “Practicing Theology, Embracing a Way of Life”, the first two essays lay the groundwork for what follows. Craig Dyksta and Dorothy C. Bass articulate a theological basis for the idea of “Christian practices.” Their focus is to elaborate “how a way of life that is deeply responsive to God’s grace takes actual shape among human beings.” Then Amy Plantinga Pauw gives attention to the gap between beliefs and practices using the story of Jonah as a case study.

Second, “Practicing Theology, Engaging in Ministry” elaborates these ideas in specific practices. What is notable here are the diverse voices. Serene Jones describes translating theology into renewed vision for a United Church of Christ congregation. Sarah Coakley explores mystical and ascetic practices in the contemporary church context. Meanwhile, Tammy R. Williams surveys differences in healing practices within idifferent African-American church groups. Christine D. Pohl, who wrote extensively on hospitality, offers a reflection on the hospitality of the Open Door Community. Gilbert I. Bond studies the intersection of liturgical practice and ministry practice in Anabaptist and Afro-baptist churches. Finally, Nancy E. Bedford studies the practice of discernment in a Latin American congregation in Argentina.

But prior to ministry practice is the training of these pastor-theologians. Part Three focuses on this in three essays, the most significant of which is “Beliefs, Desires, Practices, and the Ends of Theological Education” by L. Gregory Jones. Specifically, Jones notes the disconnect between church and seminary. Often seminarians come from churches where they learned Christian practices but were fuzzy on belief. Jones argues for rigorous baptismal catechesis to address this. Then Reinhard Hutter connects God’s hospitality revealed in worship and doctrine to our practice of hospitality. Kathryn Tanner also explores issues of theology and the practice of hospitality in the concluding essay of the section.

Finally, Part Four consists of just one essay by Miroslav Volf on theology as a way of life. The essay draws heavily on a story of how his parents translated hospitality at the Lord’s table to hospitality at their own table.

I appreciated the diversity of voices, less common twenty-five years ago. I also was struck by how often the writers came back to the practice of hospitality and the profound gospel truth behind it of God’s hospitality. At the same time, for a book on practices, the reading at times was still somewhat abstract and theoretical–theologians writing for others in the theological academy. That said, the examples of translating theology into practice, and even the notion of practices which anticipates James K.A. Smith’s cultural liturgies is important work. Lastly, L. Gregory Jones challenge for us to grow in passing the baton from church to seminary to church in the formation of ministers is one still desperately needed.

Review: Renovation of the Heart

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Cover image of "The Renovation of the Heart" by Dallas Willard.

Renovation of the Heart

Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard. NavPress (ISBN: 9781641584425) 2021 (cover image and review are of the 2002 edition).

Summary: How Christ is formed in us as our hearts are transformed and six aspects of human life are integrated under God.

When I was growing up, so much of the emphasis of my church’s preaching was on becoming a Christian. As a young believer, I wanted to know what it meant to be a Christian. I wanted my life to look more like Jesus but had no clue of how that transformation takes place. By trial and error, I developed habits of scripture reading and prayer, sharing in community and worship, witness and service. Only much later did I encounter Dallas Willard, both in his works and personally. Here was someone who thought and lived deeply into the practices through which Christ forms our lives.

Fast forward thirty years. Once again, the deep need of our churches is to see people formed in Christ. The questions raised are one’s Dallas Willard addresses in his books. That has led me to revisiting some of the books I read many years ago. I need a brush up!

One of those is Renovation of the Heart. In it, Willard focuses on our hearts, the center from which we live our lives. If our whole beings are to be changed, then change begins here. For Willard, this means opening our lives to the grace of God in an ordered way as apprentices of Jesus. In the case of humans, this has to do with six aspects that make us human–thought, feeling, choice, body, social context, and soul. When each of these “are effectively organized around God” we become increasingly like Christ. Willard addresses these one by one in chapters six to eleven.

But first he lays some essential groundwork. He begins by showing how the heart (or choice or spirit) is central in our lives and how it relates to the other five aspects. Willard then describes how deeply sin corrupts “the ruined soul” and how the kingdom of God radically restores “sin-sick souls.” He then sets forth the process of spiritual change in each of the six aspects using the acronym VIM. This stands for Vision, Intention, and Means.

After applying this process to the six aspects of human beings, Willard discusses how we live this out in the world in two chapters. The final chapter, on “Spiritual Formation in the Local Congregation” should be essential reading for church leaders. The focus is Matthew 28:18-20. Firstly, make disciples or apprentices to Jesus. Being a Christian is nothing other than being a disciple. Secondly, immerse apprentices at all levels of growth in the presence of the triune God. Finally, transform disciples inwardly, so that the words and deeds of Jesus are the natural outcome.

This is a book in which to soak deeply. The questions at the end of each chapter help with that. This book is chock-full of insights into human nature and spiritual transformation that are substantive and enduring. Just as wise investment counselors teach people to get rich slowly, in a disciplined fashion, so Willard instructs us. Transformation doesn’t happen in a healthy and abiding way unless one engages all six aspects. The vision is for transformation of every aspect of who we are. Furthermore, this is so crucial for churches that center only on buildings, butts, and budgets. Then we wonder why people are so easily to co-opt. True apprentices to Jesus are not. They recognize how conflicting loyalties are dis-integrating. This book will challenge the spiritual diet of your church, if not your own life.

Review: Becoming a Person of Welcome

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Cover image of "Becoming a Person of Welcome" by Laura Baghdassarian Murray

Becoming a Person of Welcome

Becoming a Person of Welcome, Laura Baghdassarian Murray, foreword by Tod Bolsinger. IVP | Formatio (ISBN: 9781514011942) 2025.

Summary: Hospitality as embodying a posture that we carry with us rather than just an activity at our “place.”

Behind the Christian talk of “hospitality,” I think there is a lot of resistance. We think of hosting gatherings with exquisite food in homes that look like something out of the pages of Architectural Digest. And many of us just don’t have homes, apartments, or culinary skills to measure up. (We won’t even talk about cleaning!). Furthermore, often hospitality is treated as “women’s work,” an effort in which women bear all the burden. Martha, do I hear an “Amen!”

Laura Baghdassarian Murray grew up in a hospitable Armenian family who experienced generous welcome when they emigrated to the United States. In this book, she writes out of family, community, and church leadership to describe a vision of hospitality as a posture. Instead of something we do at a place, as much to impress as to host, she explores how we may become persons of welcome wherever we go.

She begins by exploring how our preconceptions of hospitality limit us from becoming a welcoming presence in all the places of our lives. Then she turns to consider God as first host, a theme to which she will recur. We welcome because God has welcomed us in creation and salvation.

She explores the difference between counterfeit hospitality, often a veiled form of hostility, and authentic welcome. Then at times, hospitality is a tit-for-tat exchange of gifts rather than uncalculating generosity. But sometimes hospitality is hard because of past hurts. Murray describes some of her own experiences of wounds and healing. Murray deals realistically with setting boundaries and creating guidelines

Behind all this is the inner work of hospitality. In addition to a discussion of our vision and inner preparation, each chapter concludes with spiritual practices that help us cultivate a welcoming presence.

The final chapter discusses how “closing the loop” helps lay the basis for new beginnings. And befitting closure, she concludes the books with these words:

“We can always find our home in God. And our world needs reminders that we can always come home. God constantly welcomes us home, whether he walks toward us or we walk toward him. May we become people who carry welcome wherever we go and help others find their home in God” (p. 125).

I most love the idea in this book that our hospitality is rooted in God’s hospitality. And Murray offers us spiritual practices to help us make that connection. The study guide makes this a great resource for groups. For this reason, I’d love to see leadership teams in churches read this. Wouldn’t it be great if we became known as the places of welcome in our lonely and disconnected society?

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: She Teaches Me Still

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Cover image of "She Teaches Me Still" by Andrew T. Le Peau

She Teaches Me Still

She Teaches Me Still, Andrew T. Le Peau. Fill Us Publishing (ISBN: 9798993671819) 2026.

Summary: A memoir, by her husband of 47 years, of Phyllis Strong Le Peau, a nurse, campus minister, writer, and church leader.

Reading this memoir made me wish I’d known Phyllis Strong Le Peau better during her life. Although we were colleagues in the same collegiate ministry, we worked in different areas on different teams and only occasionally crossed paths. But two things I can say about her that come up over and over in this biography was that she lit up any room she entered. And while joyous and fun, she was a person of great depth evident in her probing Bible studies and care for people.

In some ways, her generous and welcoming spirit belies her roots. She grew up in a separatist fundamentalist church in a suburb of East St. Louis. But her life was rooted in an intact family with parents who loved her, and while steeped in the Bible. she was able to recognize the central focus on God’s redemptive grace. Thus, she extended that grace in welcome to all she met.

Le Peau traces her educational journey after high school through nursing school, her work as an ER and pediatric nurse, and her work with Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF). She always engaged with ministry with peers and patients. Working in an interdenominational ministry, she began to question the separatism of her youth. That work also brought her into contact with her future husband. NCF was a division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. As it turned out, Andy worked with InterVarsity on the same team as she. He traces their courtship from a 1974 “not-a-date” lunch to a September 1975 wedding.

Marrying Andy meant another big change for Phyllis. During their engagement, Andy accepted an editorial position and InterVarsity Press in the Chicago area. Phyllis returned to nursing. Following chapters chronicle the growth of their family (she was several years older than Andy and so they did not wait long), successive moves to three houses on the same street, and Phyllis’s first study guide–one on Habakkuk I used with a number of groups!

An invitation to spend a summer vacation in Michigan with friends led to the next adventure of their lives. They quickly fell in love with their cottage on the lake in Fremont. This included Phyllis’s struggle to water ski! Then they learned that the owners were selling. They wondered about buying it. Phyllis’s “Andy let’s do it” settled matters. It meant a lot of work, but created a place of welcome for family, friends and other renters.

Opening themselves to hospitality was just something Phyllis did. Andy was an opposite in many ways but he joined her in turning homes and cottages into welcoming places. This part of the book included stories of the ways she was “crazy fun.” All of this was a manifestation of an infectious love for people–family, students, coworkers, people in their church. In her later years, Phyllis returned to InterVarsity as a staff director and then as an evangelism influencer, working with many younger colleagues.

Retirement led to a new season of influence, working with a national ethnic reconciliation effort in her denomination, until a slow growing lung cancer suddenly exploded in 2021. One of the most moving moments in the book was her passing, when Andy told her “it’s okay for you to go be with Jesus.” The final chapter, “Remembering” looks back over their years and all the ways “she teaches me still.”

Andy Le Peau is a gifted writer, but I can’t imagine writing the memoir of one’s wife. Yet I think he succeeds in a way that offers an honest tribute to a remarkable woman. He doesn’t pass over foibles but handles them lightly. The person he portrays is one in the grip of God’s grace, extending his care to all she met. I mentioned at the beginning that I wish I’d known Phyllis better in life. Thanks to this memoir, I think I do now and she also teaches me.

The Weekly Wrap: April 19-25

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The Weekly Wrap: April 19-25

Something Different

Dropped by the local Barnes & Noble yesterday. On one of the front tables featuring fiction, I noticed Leif Enger‘s I Cheerfully Refuse. First it was the artful cover and then this description on the back cover that caught my attention:

“Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved and pursued musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. Rainy, an endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs and remote islands of the inland sea.”

I bought the book. But I don’t usually buy books this way. Often I buy something I’ve heard of, seen reviewed, or has been recommended. Or I buy books by an author I like or a topic I find interesting. However, this book checked none of those boxes.

So what’s going on? The cover did stand out as something of a departure from other contemporary fiction, so I noticed it. Also, I love quests. And I’ve had good luck with Minnesota authors. William Kent Krueger is a favorite. Enger is also a former journalist, a plus in my book as someone who may know how to write with economy.

I like the serendipity of shopping in a bookstore. You never know what you’ll find. And now, I’ll probably hear of Leif Enger wherever I turn! Look for my review to see if I like him!

Five Articles Worth Reading

This week’s articles all deal in some way with the upcoming 250th birthday of the United States. Three focus on the yet-to-be healed wounds of slavery and race that are an important part of our history.

Firstly, “Mother Emanuel’s Long Struggle” reviews a book on one of the oldest Black congregations, in Charleston, SC, the site of Dylann Roof’s ruthless gunning down of nine Bible study participants, and the forgiveness that followed. However the book traces a far more complex history of this congregation over 200 years.

Thomas S. Kidd, a historian, invites us to take a hard look at American slave trade in “Three History Books on the US Slave Trade.” One of these is even available for free.

Sometimes, historical fiction offers a unique lens for historical insight. In “The Barbarism of Yesteryear,” Jonathan Russell Clark reviews Max Watman’s Tomorrow, the War, an account of the antebellum slave experience in the lead up to the Civil War.


Beverly Gage recently published This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History. In “13 Books on American History That Mapped Out Beverly Gage’s Travelogue,” Gage recommends thirteen books, one for each chapter of her book, taking the reader on a journey from George Washington to Walt Disney.

Finally, part of our history is the unique canon of American literature from the past 250 years and more. The Library of America set out a number of years ago to publish quality editions of some of the best that Americans have thought and written. In “How Library of America Helped Shape the Modern American Literary Canon,” Max Rudin, current president and publisher of the Library of America discusses its mission. I’m proud to say I have a bookcase full of these editions!

Quote of the Week

Philosopher Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724. He formulated an ethical maxim simple and yet profound in its implications, often referred to as “The Categorical Imperative”:

“Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.”

Miscellaneous Musings

There has been a lot of concern about the literacy of our youth, particularly at the fourth grade level. “Another Way to Boost Fourth Grade Reading Scores? Preschool” argues for the effectiveness of Pre-K education to boost these score. Currently, however, we are shifting the burden of funding these programs in the U.S. to the states. It remains to be seen how this will work out across the country. It seems, though, that citizen involvement at the local level could make a huge difference.

Reading Jane Austen’s Emma, I wonder if Emma will have an epiphany of how condescending she is. It is a good study in how we fail to see ourselves as we are seen by others, in this case, Austen’s readers.

A City on Mars portrays the challenges of life on other planets. Mars is the only realistic possibility, with our Moon as a training ground. But the challenges are substantial to keep them from quickly or more slowly killing us. Let’s put it simply: for the next few centuries, except for very few, there is no Planet B. So, we better take care of this one.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Andrew T. LePeau, She Teaches Me Still

Tuesday: Laura Baghdassarian Murray, Becoming A Person of Welcome

Wednesday: Dallas Willard, The Renovation of the Heart

Thursday: Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass eds., Practicing Theology

Friday: The Month in Review: April 2026

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap  for April 19-25.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

Review: Dominion

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Cover image of "Dominion" by Tom Holland

Dominion

Dominion, Tom Holland. Basic Books (ISBN: 9781541675599) 2021.

Summary: A history of Christianity describing its cultural and moral impact over two millenia from its shocking beginnings in a crucifixion.

Perhaps one of the most staggering observations Tom Holland makes in this massive book comes near the beginning:

“That a man who had himself been crucified might be hailed as a god could not help but be seen by people everywhere across the Roman world as scandalous, obscene, grotesque. The ultimate offensiveness, though, was to one particular people: Jesus’ own” (p. 6).

Whatever one thinks of Christianity, accounting for its rise, spread, and cultural impact is not easy to explain. The “scandal of the cross,” that its central figure, who died one of the most ignominious deaths, is revered and worshipped as “Lord” by nearly a third of the world’s population, is difficult to account for.

Tom Holland moves from these beginnings to explore the milieu within which Christianity arose and how one might account for its spread. He notes the radical inclusiveness of Paul’s message, cutting across ethnic and class distinctions and challenging the claims of empire. From here, he traces a sprawling history, from the early doctrinal controversies and councils all the way to the Beatles’ assertion that “all we need is love.”

The book does far more than chronicle the rise and spread of Christianity. It argues for the moral and cultural influence of Christian faith, a heritage he claims we continue to live off of in our secular age. However the history is not merely one of compelling ideas and exemplary moral figures, though we encounter much of this. We also encounter ruthless political and church leaders who extend the church’s influence by human might or detract from it by their corruption.

For example, consider the history of slavery and the church’s equivocal witness. Opposition to slavery can be traced back to Gregory of Nyssa:

“Gregory was moved by the existence of slavery not just to condemn the extremes of wealth and poverty but to define the institution itself as an unpardonable offence against God. Human nature, so he preached, had been constituted by its Creator as something free. As such, it was literally priceless. ‘Not all the universe would constitute an adequate payment for the soul o£ a mortal,’?” (p. 142).

Yet for centuries, the church assented and even offered theological defenses of slavery. But leaders of the same church, from Wilberforce in England to the abolitionists in the U.S. appealed to both creation and the gospel as a basis for eliminating slavery. Often, when the church failed to act, its sharpest critics, such as Nietzsche, use the church’s teaching to call out its failures.

The parade of figures to which he introduces us is breathtaking. One of those whose story I’d not known was Elizabeth of Hungary, a princess who dressed as a beggar and served under a tyrannical abbot. She alternated time between a kitchen and a hospital, caring for the poor. She died at twenty-four. Because of the reports of miracles, the church elevated her to sainthood. Her name was on the hospital where I was born.

Holland makes a compelling case for the impact of Christianity on cultures, from hospitals and universities, to the end of apartheid in South Africa. But I wonder if he stretches the case at times, such as in his discussion of Marxism. Yes, some have argued it a Christian heresy. However, its vile destructiveness in so many places makes me question that.

I also wrestled to keep the thread of his argument in the rapid succession of so many people and events. Despite the book’s size, this is actually not a large book considering the expanse of history Holland tries to cover. And in the modern period, he jumps from 1916 and Tolkien’s work to the Sixties, and then to the present. Inevitably, he must be selective. For example, he says nothing of Karl Barth or Reinhold Niebuhr. The latter deeply influenced George Kennan, the architect of the West’s policy of containment that brought the eventual fall of communism.

I think part of the problem is that the narrative proceeded by a series of vignettes, breaking up narrative continuity. Holland gets away with this by writing so well. However, based on what I’d heard, I expected a more compelling argument. Instead, I got one vignette after another. Each was engaging, and on reflection, they make a cumulative the case for Christian influence to this day. But what this pointed up to me was how hard it is to do what Holland attempts.

At the same time, his narrative and its implications do raise important questions in an era we call “post Christian.” Particularly, I wonder how long can we live off a Christian “legacy” before we exhaust it? And what then?